Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogic approach now widely used across higher education. Its goal is to encourage student-centred learning supported by the provision of information and the active support of a facilitator. PBL can be seen as a process of meaning making, and, in this research, this meaning making occurs in the context of an academic subject in the first year of an engineering degree and a particular PBL module within that degree.
The overarching goal of the research is to contribute to a greater and deeper understanding of the process of students’ meaning making in the course of a PBL task. Specifically, the aim of the study is to investigate the role of multimodal representational, communicative resources in enhancing learning and meaning making. The objectives of the research have been to:
1) Understand the role of context in the PBL task;
2) Understand the role of the students in the meaning-making process;
3) Understand the role of the tutor/facilitator in the meaning-making process; and
4) Evaluate the overall performance of the student group in terms of task performance and the students’ construction of meaning.